FM Çavuşoğlu: Finland must lift arms embargo on Türkiye

Finland must lift an arms embargo on Ankara as a condition to securing support from Türkiye for its NATO membership bid, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Tuesday.

Finland and Sweden both asked to join NATO this year in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but longtime member Türkiye refused to endorse their request until a number of demands were met, including taking a tougher stance against YPG/PKK terrorists and removing a ban on arms sales.

While Sweden lifted the embargo in September - initially imposed by both countries in 2019 in response to Ankara's cross-border operation against the YPG terrorists - Finland has not followed suit.

"It is important that Finland's defence minister is coming to Türkiye," Çavuşoğlu said, referring to a visit scheduled for Dec. 8. "Because there has not yet been a statement from Finland that they have lifted the arms embargo against us. We expect such a statement from them," he added.

Ankara has accused the Nordic countries, mainly Sweden, of harbouring people it considers terrorists, including members of the outlawed PKK and the FETÖ accused of orchestrating a 2016 failed coup.

It has requested that Stockholm extradite a number of these people. Türkiye said Sweden's extradition of the PKK suspect at the weekend was a "good start" but cautioned that more needed to be done.

Çavuşoğlu said on Tuesday the man was not one of those Ankara had requested from Stockholm and that people on the list still needed to be extradited and their assets seized.

Stockholm and Helsinki deny sheltering terrorists but have pledged to cooperate with Ankara to fully address its security concerns and also to lift arms embargoes.

NATO makes its decisions by consensus, meaning that the two Nordic nations require the approval of all 30 alliance member states. Only Türkiye still stands opposed to their membership, though Hungary has also yet to ratify it.